gtaylor@astroatc.UUCP (Twice the speed of silence) (10/17/86)
Well, finally: the darned thing shows up. It's a single disc, and omits some of the double LP by jettisoning 5 or 6 cuts from the instrumental album (taking theveil/laughter and forgetting/before the bullfight/gone to earth/wave/river man silver moon/the healing place/answered prayers/where the railroad meets the sea/ the wooden cross/home/upon this earth is the way the programming runs). The extended range of the CD-as you'd expect-makes the good stuff sound better (notably the little washes of stuff and the percussion, which sounds much better) and makes the bad stuff sound execrable (silver moon and wave both suck el grande and flirt with loungecroon that should have sylvian slinking into a corner to hide). Clocks in at a nice 68:04, and for my money it's a better buy than this mortal coil (the alan parsons project of the eighties). Wavo it ain't, the textures are great, and if shredding is your raison d'etre, you'll be sure to think this is yupclone newage pablum. When one ages a i have, those stolen moments of musical quiet become precious, provided that they don't serve to cover the grit and bump that we listen to the rest of the stuff for. Gregory (1st person references only)